Saturday, 26 September 2015

My Mitsubishi Lancer is almost 10 years old now. It has not given me any major headache or repair. The only time I have to replace is the timing belt. There are no issues with the suspension, brake, engine, gear-box, etc. It has an issue though that the horn will sound even without you activating it. That is a pain while imaging when at night, the horn will sound by itself and wake up the neighbourhood, or even worst, the police will knock on your door to ask you to deactivate the horn.

It is time for me to change my car. I still have about 6 months before I need to scrap my car. I will take back about $7K at the end of its tour cycle. It has served me well for the past 9.5 years and I have not regretted buying it.

During my last servicing at the garage, I was told that my radiator coolant was leaking. I didn't believe it as I did not have any issue with it. There are green stains on the radiator and based on the servicing agent's experience, the radiator is leaking. It will cost me $900 to change the radiator. The agent advised that since the car will be scrapped early next year, it is not worth it to replace a new radiator. He advised me to top up the radiator with water every morning before I start the engine. It is very troublesome and I tried to change the water level. There was no change in the water level for a week. I guessed the agent was trying to pull a fast one on me.

It is now almost 5 months since the last servicing. The car is due for servicing next month. I was stopping for a while to wait for someone and I noticed that the air-con was not cold. It started to become warm in a few seconds. I was thinking that the air-con was going to spoilt soon and did not take note of the car engine temperature. After my car moved off, the air-con became cold again so again, this did not cause an alarm to my mind.

Then, I was at a traffic red light and I stopped my car. Immediately the air-con turned to warm again, I looked at the car engine temperature. Normally, the indicator is at the middle of the range. Suddenly, the indicator went to the hot zone quickly. It was hovering between the three quarter mark near the H. I was panicking and thought that the radiator would shutdown and whole engine would stop. Luckily, the lights turned green and I managed to reach home safely. I wasn't sure whether it was the radiator problem but from the surface, it seemed like one. I couldn't open the radiator cap as it was still very hot and remembered not to open the radiator cap when it was still hot. It is better to let it cool down overnight and open the cap in the morning.

The next morning, I opened the radiator cap. True enough, the radiator was almost empty. I poured in about 600ml of distilled water. I was thinking whether I should buy some coolant water to top up instead. Any one has any suggestion? Thanks.

I went to the petrol kiosk and bought one liter of radiator coolant. I hope this will temporarily keep my engine cool and prolong its life till next year March. I was choosing between a Japanese brand and this local brand. Well, as long as it does not cause any problem to the radiator, it is ok. I will let post here whether I will encounter problem in the near future.

Apple iOS 9.0.1 software update is available now. I have not even upgraded to iOS 9 yet but I think this iOS 9.0.1 update has fixed the privacy vulnerability bug. According to the computerworld.com, Apple iOS 9.0 has a nasty lock screen bug as it allows anyone to see your photos and contacts. Well, I can't verify this yet because I have not even updated to iOS 9.

Apple iOS 9.0.1 software update

You can refer to the Apple site on the bug fixes or the below:

iOS 9.0.1 : This update contains bug fixes including:

Fixes an issue where some users could not complete setup assistant after updating

Fixes an issue where sometimes alarms and timers could fail to play

Fixes an issue in Safari and Photos where pausing video could cause the paused frame to appear distorted

Fixes an issue where some users with a custom APN setup via a profile would lose cellular data

I wouldn't recommend anyone to update to iOS 9 yet until there are enough users to feedback all bugs to Apple. It may take a while say one month or two. Apple will release more updates to the iOS 9 and hopefully can iron out all the bug issues. In the meantime, for those who have updated the software, please update to the latest to see whether the bugs have been fixed. If not, continue to wait or feedback to Apple. Hopefully someone in Apple can fix them.

The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus have been launched yesterday 25 Sep 2015. My colleagues have already bought them and we will test the phones out. For those who have bought them, congratulations! You will not regret buying one.

Sunday, 20 September 2015

Apple has rolled out the iOS 9 software update in anticipation of the release of the iPhone 6S and 6S plus on 25 Sep 2015. I have not updated my iOS 8.4.1 yet because I know that based on history of iOS 7 to iOS 8, there were many major bugs that needed to iron out before it was safe to upgrade.

Apple iOS 9 software update

If you search through the internet now, you will start to know what kinds of bugs or issues the end users are suffering now. For examples:

Monday, 14 September 2015

Well, the haze is back and this time, it seems to last longer. Life in Singapore is good when the air is fresh. Right now, it is very miserable and people are starting to put on their masks. Everyone is talking about the PSI which is Pollutant Standards Index. You can track the air quality over Singapore in the NEA Haze website.
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PSI index category

You can tell the air quality is bad not just by the smell but when you can see the sun with your naked eyes. The haze has blocked most of the sun rays and the sun looks liked a dull egg yolk.

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Photo taken at 7.15am in Singapore

Without the sunlight, the plants or vegetation will not grow well and will probably wither away. Without the plants and trees, there will be no photosynthesis to remove the carbon dioxide and introduce fresh oxygen for us to breathe. The high carbon dioxide level will create a green-house effect and cause the heat to be trapped and eventually the global temperature will raise and cause the ice caps to melt and sea level to rise. More land mass will be covered by sea water.

You just wish that everywhere you go has air-conditioning and fresh air. Most schools in Singapore are still not air-conditioned and it is bad for the students to study in unhealthy air situation. They will need to install air purifier in the classroom to remove the harmful particles. I hope the schools have business continuity plan in place to react to this type of emergency. Looking at the website for the Ministry of Education, they have some Haze Management Measures in place. When the PSI is greater than 300 (Hazardous), the schools will scale down lessons. All student will be spread out in enclosed indoor spaces (classrooms) to allow for better thermal comfort and ventilation. Students and staff who are unwell will be temporarily accommodated in an air-conditioned room with an air purifier, before they are taken to seek medical attention. Parents of these students will be notified.

The occasional downpours did not reduce the PSI much. The harmful particles are smaller than 2.5um and the rain will be get rid of those.

Singapore has experienced this type of emergency before a few years back and they have already stocked up enough masks for the whole population. But I was wondering the stocks can last for how long. If the haze persists for a few months, then it will be very detrimental to the health of the people as well as the economy. Firstly, the tourism will be affected. The Singapore Grand Prix will be held on 18 to 20 September at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The haze situation may affect the turnout at this annual event and hopefully the drivers will be not affected by the air quality.

I think in most people have a common wish - we wish that the wind direction will change and divert the haze to a place or the sea where there are not people there.

Sunday, 6 September 2015

Day 6 of my Taiwan Free & Easy Trip was greeted with a lovely breakfast at the Minsu (Echo Villa). The breakfast was light and tasty. Ah Cheng mentioned that they were prepared by his mother. I think the recipe is from his mother and it was probably not prepared by her. Just my opinion. However, the breakfast was good.

Breakfast @ Minsu

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Breakfast @ Minsu

I took a panoramic view of the interior of the Minsu. There were four of us and we managed to squeeze into this room comfortably. However, we needed to share one washroom and this was quite annoying. In the washroom, there is a bathtub and I think it is quite unique but water will be splashed out as there is no shower curtain. ﻿﻿

Panoramic view of the Minsu

After the breakfast, we got to check out the Minsu and moved to Qi Xing Tan (七星潭) and Taroko National Park. Ah Cheng recommended a tour guide (former Taxi driver) for us. I think his name is Bei Er. He told us to call him Bear. He said he was a former taxi driver but resigned due to his health. His first stop was at an open field in front of an army camp. You could hear firing shots in the far distance as they were having firing practices at the firing range. The panoramic view of Qi Xing Tang is fantastic and no word can describe this. The wind is too strong here and if you are wearing a scarf, remember to tie it or secure it, if not, it will fly away. We were even struggling to stand straight as the winds kept pushing us away. Remember not to stand too close to the edge and the lands were a bit loose.
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Panoramic view of Qi Xing Tan

The deserted open field in front of the army camp. You could hear gunshots in the distance as they were having training.
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Open field near an army camp

A small narrow road that led to the open field. Only a local guide can find the way here. There are bicycle trails and I think you can rent a bicycle from the Minsu/hotels at Qi Xing Tan to get here.

Day 5 is the day that we move to Hualian. We checked out the hotel at Fengjia and took the Gao Tie from Taichung to Taipei. At the Taipei Main Station, we took a train (自强号火车) to Hualian. We had pre-booked these tickets online to avoid the tickets being sold out in advanced. The ticket was NT$418 per person. We took the 1.10pm train and reached Hualian at 3.29pm.

自强号火车 Tickets

The cabin of 自强号火车 is very clean and comfortable. It is better to get the tickets with the seat number so that you don't have to get up when someone with the seat number comes along. I can't remember whether this is still the case now. Well, in the cabin, you can buy some meals and drinks from the people pushing a cart. You can also enjoy the meals and drinks that you have purchased outside.

自强号火车

At around 3.30pm, we arrived at the Hualian (Hualien) station. We were supposed to meet the driver of the Minsu at the entrance. However, we did not see the driver and had waited there for about 30 minutes. In the end, the Minsu's owner called us that they had been waiting for us for about 30 minutes. We realised that there are two exits in this station. We had waited at the wrong exit. We took our luggages and told the station master that we had exited the wrong gate and he kindly let us through the gate again so that we could cross under the track to the other exit.

Welcome to Hualien

We had been searching for this Volkswagen bus Type 1 at the wrong exit. Finally, we saw it when we exited the correct gate.

Volkswagen Bus Type 1

The owner, Ah Cheng, had pimped the interior of the Volkswagen Type 1 bus and it was very comfortable to sit in. The ride can be jerky at times, however, the Minsu is just only less than 10 minutes ride from the train station.

Volkswagon Bus

You will arrive at the Echo Villa回音谷民宿 after 10 minutes. It is located in a private residential area. The owner actually lives here or nearby. He is actually expanding the Minsu. There is a trail into the forest where there is a very small waterfall. We didn't get to see the waterfall as it was quite late when we arrived. We had intended to explore the area in the next Monday but it was too comfortable to get out of the room that we missed the trail again. Never mind, we might return another day.

回音谷民宿

The exterior of the Minsu is quite nice and the owner had spent quite a lot of effort to make it tranquil and picturesque. You will enjoy taking photographs with the backdrops. You will definitely use up many megabytes of memory in your smartphone or SDCards.

Exterior of 回音谷民宿

Exterior of 回音谷民宿

The owner, Ah Cheng, likes vintage Volkswagen that he has another Volkswagen Type 1 (Beetle). It is a yellow Beetle and it is parked outside the Minsu. I think you can ask Ah Cheng to give you a ride or maybe borrow the Beetle for a spin. I didn't ask so don't quote me...

The Yellow Volkswagen Beetle

Managed to get a panoramic view of the exterior of Echo Villa with the yellow Beetle. Isn't it nice?

Panoramic view of Echo Villa

The exterior is already picturesque, just imagine the interior will be. It is even better than the exterior. The furnishing gives you a warm, heartening feeling that makes you feel that you are at home. The full height glass window let you get close to the nature. Ah Cheng mentioned that you might see monkeys coming towards the glass windows during the day.